Sanshöuo no Keitaro
by Tikky Mikk
Summary: Naruto is a genius and the pupil of one of the finest shinobi Konoha has ever produced, as well as hated by most of his village. With the desire to be the strongest where will this path guide him?  Will have minor crossovers.
1. The two geniuses

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Sanshöuo no Keitaro**

Chapter 1: The two geniuses

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''Good job Naruto" said Itachi as Naruto finishes sparring with his shadow clone, this way he was able to point his fails from two perspectives.

"Thanks Itachi-sensei" responded Naruto, he was wearing black Anbu pants, short-sleeved grey T-shirt, shinobi sandals and black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back. He had kunai and shuriken pouches attached to his pants, as well as some scrolls.

"Now practice your katas of Kenjutsu on top of the lake with three leaves sticking to your forehead, blindfolded" instructed Itachi, as soon as he said that Naruto unsealed a wooden sword and got to it. From time to time Itachi would throw rocks at him that he had to hit or evade, in order to improve his other senses and hone his reflexes. This exercise started after mastering water-walking, practicing the katas, after that the Uchiha added the leaf exercise, later throwing rocks at him to disrupt his form and finally the blindfold.

They were in the Forest of Death, the only place in the village where the two of them could train without being seen by the villagers or ninja of Konoha, Itachi had started training Naruto after the later got assaulted two years ago, when he was four, by some villager who lost his family when the Kyuubi atacked, he got some punches in before some ANBU arrested him, after that incident the Sandaime expected him to cry, but instead he asked for training, he already knew he was hated, with all the glares and whispers, and he wanted to defend himself, seeing that they had got to the point of physical harm. Of course the Hokage accepted, and he assigned Itachi for the job, whenever he wasn´t on missions.

As soon as they started training the Uchiha knew that he had a lot in common with Naruto, both were geniuses altough Naruto had to hide it in order not to attract attention and feign idiocy, both had had to mature quickly, one to satisfy the expectations of his father and the other in order to survive. So Itachi poured all his knowledge in training Naruto, and he could honestly say that he couldn´t have asked for a better apprentice, apart from being a genius he had a body composition that could withstand harsh training and the determination to be the strongest. Having started the training at such a young age he was able to control his chakra easier, he would always have to do the exercises but it was a small price for the incredible chakra pool he would have thanks to the seal filtering the chakra of the Kyuubi.

Having great regeneration he was able to train his body with weights, that would be made heavier as he added chakra when he was comfortable with the current weight. For Taijutsu he was creating the bases of a style based on the ancient Muay Thai, that used his hands, feet, elbows and knees.

Genjutsu had to wait a bit at the beggining, until he got enough control over his chakra, he found them really useful and wondered why people didn´t use more the subtle art of illusions, something that pleased Itachi, being a master of that branch of knowledge.

Just after mastering the academy three, with his ever-increasing chakra capacity Naruto was able to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu**, **a jutsu that Itachi knew could lead Naruto to greatness thanks to the memory feedback, after explaining the boy his applications they were able to up the training, with Naruto creating a one of them to study different scrolls and books of theory while he exercised physically, over time he added more clones when Itachi deemed he was ready.

Having been told about the fox by his teacher, Naruto developed interest in Fuuinjutsu, and when Itachi got him some books from the library his will to learn increased even more, with seals one could do almost everything. So with some blank scrolls and ink he started to pratice his caligraphy, wich had to be flawless if he wanted to be able to make seals.

Other than kunai and shuriken Naruto took interest in another weapon, a chokuto, but seeing that he was still too small to wield one he used a wooden sword, going through the basic katas until he was able to create his own.

Naruto was a natural in stealth, and the training for that field where his pranks, he had never been caught, even after infiltrating different restricted areas, he was quite disappointed of 'The strongest village'.

All in all Naruto trained every ninja art, thanks to his Shadow Clone Jutsu, this technique had to be used carefully, it would be no good to make too many clones and fry his brain, he would have to increase the number of clones bit by bit.

"That´s all for today" said Itachi half an hour later, when Naruto got out of the lake he ruffled his hair playfully with a small smile, after some time training they had come to consider each other as brothers. "Well done"

"Thanks Itachi" replied Naruto with one of his few true smiles, which where always directed to his brother figure, he was the only person in the village he could talk to, as the hatred the adults had for him was transmited to their children, making Naruto isolated from everyone but Itachi and the Sandaime , but the Hokage was always busy with his work.

With a Shunsin he transported his apprentice to an alley near his apartment, and disappeared. Naruto climbed the stairs of the apartment complex and deactivated the security seals that Itachi had helped him design, once he had secured the door he assumed a meditative stance and dispelled the five clones that were working on different ninja theory one by one, once he finished he took a shower and got ready to go to sleep. But for some reason ha had the feeling that something bad would happen in the near future.

XXXX

The next few months Naruto continued progressing at an incredible rate, he felt that something was concerning Itachi, but decided that he would tell him when he wanted. Finally they got to one of the things that Naruto had been expecting the most, elemental manipulation, he had already read scrolls and was excited about seeing which was his affinity. "Naruto, this is a chakra paper, you just have to channel your chakra on it and it will show us your affinity"

"Okay sensei" said Naruto, he put the paper on top of his extended palm and started channeling chakra on it, the results surprised both the teacher and student, the paper was sliced in half, with one part getting crumpled and the other damp.

"Well this is surprising, normally a ninja has just one affinity, some two, but having three is really strange, and ot seems that your affinities are really strong" explained Itachi,'He may even have a blodline', now he had to plan his training for the three of them, but thanks to his clones he should be able to grasp them quite soon, and in the near future master them competely "I want you to create six clones, two of them will have to cut a leaf in half, other two must put one hand in the lake and try to make the water to swirl around them and the last two have to get a kunai or shuriken and try to channel lightning through them, you won´t be able to mantain it if you throw them yet so don´t try it" adviced Itachi seeing the look in Naruto´s eyes.

"What will we do then Itachi-sensei" asked Naruto after getting over the fact that he won´t be throwing lightning enhanced weapons, at least not yet.

"I will start teaching you strategy"

"Strategy?"

"Yes, you must understand that it is not always the strongest ninja the one that wins the battle, the Nara would be a perfect example, the may not have the biggest chakra reserves, powerful jutsu or ability with weapons, but they are dangerous when they use their minds, if you are fighting against one of them you must always be careful" Seeing that Naruto understood it he continued "Besides asking you different questions about battle situations we will start playing shogi"

"Yes Itachi-sensei!" said Naruto excited, he knew of the importance of this lesson, if he wanted to be the strongest he had to excell in planning and cunning too. Itachi pulled out a scroll and unsealed the game, after a short explanation they started to play, it was clear that the Uchiha was better, but bit by bit Naruto started to develop the right mentality, and even if he did not win he was making progress.

XXXX

Naruto had been training a month already and had managed to cut half the way through the leaf, make a weak spiral with the water and create a few sparks of lightning, Itachi was out of the village doing some important mission but he couldn´t wait to show his brother figure his progress, as normally people took a longer time to grasp elemental manipulation, he had been training at the outskirts of the forest of death, where the dangerous animals never approached, but even then he had some shadow clones on the lookout, like he liked to say: 'better be safe than sorry'. It was nearly nightime so he had decided to end the day and get some well deserved rest,having spent most of his chakra. He was opening the door of his apartment when his instincts made him jump quickly inside, and he couldn´t be more right as a kunai flew across the space his torso had occupied before, he rolled on the floor and got a kunai on his hand, waiting for the assaliant to attack, mantaining his cool as Itachi had taught him. The siluet of a person appeared at the entrance, it was a brown haired middle-aged chuunin, dressed with the standard he stepped on the apartment Naruto cursed himself mentally, the security seals array only acted when the door was closed, an error he would have to correct... if he survived.

Naruto started to analize the situation, he could try to jump through the window, but it was really solid, and being as small as he was he didn´t know if he could break it with one go, and he couldn´t risk it if he wanted to live, so that left trying to maneuver him and get trough the door or outright fight, seeing no other option he proceded to cancel his weights and charged against his opponent, who seemed surprised that he actually fought back, he went for a punch but the chuunin managed to block it , but Naruto followed with a kick that connected with the chuunin´s waist, but being as small as he was it didn´t do much damage, so the man only grunted and responded with his own kick, that even as Naruto blocked with both his arms sent him flying to the wall, as the older ninja came to him Naruto got to his feet and threw his kunai, wich gazed the ninja´s cheek , but with a roar he got close to the blonde, and before the blonde could get another kunai he drew one of his own and tried to stab Naruto "Die demon!"

For Naruto time seemed to move slower as the chuunin got close to him, 'Is this how I´m going to die?, by some sad excuse of a man who can´t tell the difference between a man and a gigantic demon? No! I can´t die! I have yet much to do', both of them failed to notice a sudden descense in the temperature of the room, and in a flash ice spikes formed from all over the room, impalling the chuunin just as his kunai was about to get to Naruto.

That was the scene that Itachi found, he quickly got Naruto, who was in shock, and got at top speed to the Hokage tower, paying no attention to the few ninja that he Hokage was about to leave his office when he arrived.

"Hokage-sama, there was an attempt against Naruto´s life!" said a furious Itachi, lying Naruto in a couch. For a moment a flash of anger was shown in Sarutobi´s eyes, but he quickly composed himself.

"What happened?"

Itachi then told him that he had just arrived from his mission and decided to make sure Naruto was okay before going to his clan compound, but he heard sounds of fight, a shout and then suddenly the apartment was filled with ice spikes, and the chuunin was dead.

"Naruto, it wasn´t your fault" said Itachi sitting on the couch with his hand ruffling Naruto´s hair. Naruto shifted his eyes to meet the Uchiha´s and hugged him "Will it always be like this? With people trying to kill me?" asked a teary-eyed Naruto.

The only thing that Itachi could do was try to transmit his support to Naruto by hugging him tighter, even with the problems he had with his clan, he promised himself that one way or another he would make sure that his brother would be protected or strong enough that he didn´t need it.

The Sandaime could only watch this with sadness in his eyes, he looked to the portrait of his predecessor and thought 'What would you do Minato, the same village you sacrificed yourself for is after the blood of your child'


	2. Revelation, gift and departure

Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto

Chapter 2: Revelation, gifts and departure

After the incident Naruto asked Itachi to up his training, and got to it with even more determination than before, he knew that he had been lucky to survive the atack, if it had not been for his bloodline he would be dead. There was no record about a Konoha ninja that used Hyotôn, so they had to use their imagination to train it, with exercises like trying to freeze a glass of water. This had made Naruto start to think who were his parents, that was a topic that he had left at the back of his mind, so it had been years since he had tried to resolve that mistery. After thinking about it for a long time he decided to take a break and take a stroll across the village, Itachi and Naruto had come up with a seal that changed the physical appearance of the individual, it should only be detected by a byakugan, and even then they would not know what the seal did. When he arrived to the Hokage tower he decided to head back, but not before taking a glance at the stone faces of the Hokages, people he admired for their power.

When he arrived to his apartment he deactivated the seal, and he ran a hand through his blonde hair... For a moment he stopped moving before chuckling humoressly with teary eyes. Once he calmed down he spoke "So that´s it, heh, should have seen it sooner, seeing how they said he was so noble, he wouldn´t have made a jinchuuriki out of some random child, and there aren´t so many blonde ninjas in Konoha, my hair is brighter than the Yamanaka´s... if the village knew who they are scorning they would freak out, but then they would probably deny it and say I look like this to mock the Yondaime´s sacrifice, or start trying to manipulate me" That train of thought made him question where was his inheritance, even if he didn´t think about Minato Namikaze as his father he was aware that the man was one of the most powerful ninja there had been, and had an impressive work on seals, so why not take it? The Fourth should have some kind of compound, probably protected by blood seals, the only places he hadn´t explored where the forests behind the Hokage monument and the dephts of the Forest of Death, and the former was more likely.

Naruto got his disguise on along with his ninja gear and walked towards the forests, half an hour later he found it, ir was protected by a great stone wall, he walked towards the gate and located the blood seal, so taking a kunai he sliced his palm and spread the blood all over it, without a sound the gates gave in, showing a two stories compound, it was like the Hyuuga´s, but obviously smaller, and was in the middle of a great garden, with what seemed a training ground at the back. The insides of the house weren´t as fancy as he expected, but it showed that they were quite wealthy. With a handsign he created four clones and sent them to retrieve anything worth taking and seal it within a scroll, which would be put in the bigger scroll he carried, meanwhile he was looking at the photos across the house, it showed Minato with a red haired woman, his mother, he didn´t know what to think about her, it´s not like he knew how it felt to have parents, to him they were little more than strangers.

For the next hour the clones were busy searching and classifying their findings, within the items collected were the infamous Hiraishin kunais along with the notes to develop it, Naruto was far from understanding it, but maybe within the next years he would be advanced enough in seals to understand the whole process. There were various scrolls about wind, water and lightning ninjutsu, there was no mention to ice jutsu, so maybe it was a latent bloodline.

'Maybe it is because of the kyuubi that I manifested it...' thought Naruto.

After sealing everything in the main scroll he decided that it would not be wise to take it to his apartment, so he left it in the house and resealed the property.

He told Itachi, who had suspected it ever since he began training Naruto, and now that he had confirmation he felt even more disappointed about the village, Naruto was not only a hero for not having snapped and freed the Kyuubi to burn the place that scorned him but he was the son of one of the most revered shinobi of Konoha, who had asked for his son to be recogniced and got the opposite from the people he had protected.

XXXX

The following weeks went as usual, the only extraordinary event was the disappearance of Uchiha Shisui, Naruto felt that Itachi knew more about it, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

It was mid-afternoon and Naruto was studying a book about seals when he heard a distinctive knock at the door, which signaled that it was Itachi. He opened the door with a smile, but when he saw his brother´s face he understood something was wrong.

"Naruto I´m leaving the village, the situation with my clan has become too dangerous and measures will have to be taken, with the result of me becoming a missing-nin and Sasuke being the only survivor" said Itachi once the door was closed and the privacy seals activated.

"And I suppose I can´t go with you" said Naruto with a sad face.

"No little brother, I wish you could, but we will have to go separated ways, in order to try to stall their movements I will have to join an organization who hunts the bijuu leaded by one man that in the future you might have to face, the man that I had to seek help from... Uchiha Madara, he doesn´t know that I teach you so maybe I will be able to give you time from inside"

Naruto´s eyes widened when he heard the name, it was a name of legend, a shinobi on par with the first Hokage, and who could control the Kyuubi, and if he was alive... then he must be the one that instigated the attack six years ago!

"I see you understand, you have to grow strong Naruto, to beat this foe you will need any help you can get, and that´s why I will give you this" Itachi explained before unsealing a pot with two sharingan eyes, and a brown folder "These are the eyes of my friend Shisui, these eyes are very special, information about them is in this folder"

"But are you sure that the eyes will be compatible with me?"

"I think so, if Kakashi is able to use the eye to nearly the full capabilities you, who have the Kyuubi sealed inside, the tailed beast that seems to have a connection with the sharingan, should accept them completely, but when we transplant the first we shall see, now do you want to proceed?"

Naruto nodded instantly, it seemed that he would have to face the eldest Uchiha alive, and having a sharingan to resist his seemed the best.

The process of transplant was very painful, as it had to be done without any painkiller, but Naruto didn´t give a single scream, when the first eye was transpalnted it started to spin rapidly, before slowing down decreasing the number of tomoes to two, and finally settled on the dark grey colour, the second eye was all the same, Itachi covered his eyes with some bandages and sealed the blue eyes in a scroll he put aside.

"You should let your eyes rest for at least one or two hours, tomorrow the mission will begin, you must use that chance to get out of the village Naruto, as without me here I fear for you, in the folder is the rest of the training I planned for you, a safe way out of the village and the location of a secret base of the Uchiha clan, I don´t know the place as my father had been suspecting me as of late, but Shisui had it, you should put it to good use, remain hidden in there until you deem youself strong enough, you can stay there for years if needed. Remember that your identity must remain a secret... and that I love you little brother"

Itachi hugged Naruto and after he cried himself to sleep put him on his bed, with tears falling from his eyes Itachi closed the door and left the block of apartments.

XXXX

When Naruto awakened he was scared as he seemed unable to see, but then the boy remembered the events of the last day, and with caution he began to undo the bandages, when they fell to the floor he quickly got to the mirror, his eyes were now like every Uchiha´s, after a few minutes he decided to channel chakra through his eyes, and to his delight the sharingan appeared, with them activated everything seemed clearer, and even if small he noticed constant drain on his chakra, so he deactivated them and noticed the scroll and folder that Itachi had left last night.

After having the weird sight of ones own eyes floating in a pot he sealed them again, and proceeded to examine the folder about his new eyes, Shisui´s eyes, he still couldn´t imagine how Itachi was feeling, having to kill your best friend and now probably the major part of your clan, but he was his brother and he would be there for him whenever he asked, he had confidence that they would see each other again.

It seemed that Shisui´s eyes were really especial, the information was very detailed, so he supposed this had come directly from the archive of the Konoha Military Police. The special ability of the eyes was the possibility of influencing people through them, wich was extremely useful in the ninja world, it should be more difficult the more the influence you intend to put into the objective´s mind differs from his ideals, but he would have years to test it. Shisui was known for being highly proficient with the shunsin, to the point where he was able to use it in battle, this was thanks to an extensive physical training and the sharingan, in order to keep track of your position at such high speeds. His shunsin didn´t leave a trace either, so it would take great reflexes to be able to fight him. Naruto decided that he would honor Shisui and try to use that technique like him or even better.

Another ability of the sharingan that would come handy was the perfect visual memory, apart from being able to copy whatever jutsu thrown at him he now could memorize sealing and other information even easier. Naruto discovered that his clones couldn´t activate the doujutsu, but it didn´t especially worry him, as the drain of the sharingan would have rendeered unable to use jutsu when in high numbers.

The rest of the day was spent experimenting with his eyes, going briefly to the village in order to purchase some black tinted googles, as someone seeing him with the sharingan soon was not a good plan. With a good night of rest he awakened and got prepared to leave, it would be a long day, after retrieving the scroll form his 'parent´s' compound he sealed everyting on his own body, he had discovered that some people painted seals in their bodies, and after making sure that he was proficient enough, meaning hours of clones working on every single aspect of it, he put it on his right shoulder. The ink was special, as it was mixed with his own blood, so if he was cut the seal would not be destroyed.

'That would be a bitch' he thought.

Finally the night came, and after making sure for the last time that he didn´t leave anything behind he activated the seal to disguise himself and got out of the apartment, the escape route Itachi had given him was the same as his, and as it was a mission for the village there shouldn´t be any guards, for the charade of being a traitor to work he would have to kill anyone on his way. He waited in one of the roofs, far away he could see the Uchiha district, and when he saw some signs of fight he knew that the route should be cleared for sure, so he used the maximum of his stealth and finally got out to the forest surrounding the village, after running for an hour he stopped to drink in a river, but seeing some birds flee at quite a good distance away he channeled chakra thorugh his ears, a trick he got from some old scrolls, and sounds of a fight reached his ears, he pondered if he should go or not, there shouldn´t be any Konoha ninja there so maybe they were some bandits atacking merchant or something, with new determination he decided to investigate what was happening.


	3. Good bye Naruto

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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Chapter 3: Good bye Naruto

Within a minute Naruto arrived at the site of the battle, just in time to see Itachi get pierced by the tanto of some ninja near his heart, who in return got his head severed. There were at leat thirty corpses in the clearing, all of them had a mask with the kanji of Root, Naruto quickly got to Itachi´s side, who by now was getting paler.

"Itachi!" shouted Naruto.

"Naruto... you managed to escape" said Itachi, but he started coughing blood.

"I´ve got to get help" said Naruto tears falling from his eyes.

"No, it´s too late"

"But you can´t die! I have no one else!"

"Sorry little brother, but you still can find other people, make friends and even form a family when you get old enough" said Itachi with a chuckle that ended in cough.

"Why did they do this? Who ordered this?" asked Naruto.

"Danzo" responded Itachi, seeing the fury in Naruto´s eyes he continued "But don´t live only for revenge Naruto, or you may turn as bad as him"

"I will not let it consume me, but I swear that Danzo will pay" vowed Naruto.

"I haven´t much time left Naruto... come closer"

Naruto lowered his head and Itachi ruffled weakly his hair.

"Grow strong in the shadows little brother... Uchiha Keitaro"

With that Uchiha Itachi died, with a smile on his face. Naruto, now Keitaro, started crying harder, but he knew the time to grieve would come later, he sealed Itachi´s body on one of his best scrolls and put burnt the blood that had pooled under the body with Fire Release: Great Fireball , that quickly caught fire of the nearby plant life, he would not let anyone get anything of his sensei. With that thought Naruto ran towards what would be his new home for a long time, leaving behind a forest of flames.

X X X X X

After three days of running Keitaro finally found the entrance of the base, it was hidden in a mountain, near the sea that separated Water Country from Fire Country. There were seals and a well placed genjutsu at the entrance, but thanks to the notes in the folder and the sharingan he was able to enter. The corridor was just enough three people to enter, wich would allow the defenders to fight great numbers of people, along the walls there were seal powered lamps and pictures of the fan which identified the Uchiha clan.

After sending some clones to investigate he discovered that the base was gigantic, and had accomodations to house more than fifty people. Theres was a big kitchen, which had food that would last him for years, a lot of bedrooms, training grounds and even a library, granted it wasn´t like Konoha´s, but it held specific information the Uchiha clan had about different countries and ninja, along with a number of scrolls, he suspected most were stolen. There were also great empty spaces, so should he ever need to create a special room it would be possible.

All in all it was the perfect place for him, he wanted to explore it right now, but the effort of the last days was taking it´s toll.

"I think I will like it here" Keitaro murmured sleepily as he let himself lay on the bed of the first room he found.

X X X X X

Keitaro awakened abruptly the next morning after having a nightmare about Itachi´s death, as he remebered the end of his brother tears showed in the corner of his eyes, but he managed to hold them back, he entered the bathroom and after having a shower he decided that it was time to say the final goodbye to his brother.

The beach was a perfect spot, the water was crystal clear and the sand white, if he was here for other reasons he would feel happy, but sadly that was not the mater at hand.

He created some Shadow Clones and got them top bring some good tree branches, after half an hour with some ropes he got from the Uchiha base Keitaro had created a wooden platform, that had a bed of dry herbs on top. With a heavy heart he unsealed Itachi´s body, which he carefully laid on the top of the platform. Closing his sensei´s eyes he put two golden coins on them, a ritual of the past for the departure of the heroes. Staring at him for a few minutes he decided to get something to remember him by, his slashed Konoha headband, that would also act as a reminder of his promise to his brother,

After washing the tears off his face he lit the herbs with a low level fire jutsu and watched as it burnt. When the body was consumed and the structure crumbled the wind started blowing the ashes away, after sparing a last glance Keitaro got on his way basck to his hideout.

X X X X X

The Sandaime Hokage was not a happy man, the aftermath of the Uchiha massacre was a huge blow to village had just lost it´s Military Police, the most promising ninja of his generation and the fabled sharingan. Itachi should have been allowed to escape, that was the deal, but Danzo had other plans, and secretly had launched his forces against him, Sarutobi had discovered this after his ANBU went to investigate the fire lit outside the village, after extinguising the fire they discovered the corpses of some ninja, and the Hokage knew they were from Root. The organizatin was supposed to be disbanded, he had suspicions that that was not the truth, but now he had proof, even if he couldn´t link it with Danzo.

The corpse of Itachi Uchiha wasn´t retrieved, so they didn´t know if he had indeed died in the fire or had escaped, or which were his intentions now that he had been betrayed.

'I have been lenient for a long time, the elders have too much power, the same with the civilians, but I will not let it continue' the Sandaime thought. 'And now Naruto is missing'

The old Hokage had been so buried in paperwork that it had been a week until he thought about the blond child. Being the only one who knew that Naruto was Itachi´s student he supposed that he had escaped the same night. Itachi knew that he couldn´t keep Naruto with him, as he knew he would become one of the most famous missing-nin of the ninja world.

'But where is he then?'

The Sandaime knew that this day could come after the attempt on the life of Naruto, that day the boy lost any hope he could have had of being happy in Konoha. He knew that this might be for the best for Naruto, but he couldn´t let him simply disappear, so he decided that he would have to infrom the council and Jiraya, even if the man hadn´t visited the boy he still was his godparent, and had one of the best spy networks in the world.

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AN:Well as you see from now on Naruto is Keitaro, he changes his name not only for the sake of not being discovered but because Itachi had given him the name, for those that didn´t want Itachi to die I´m sorry, I too think that he is amazing but for this story he had to die, for those who think that he died too easily he still hadn´t mastery over the Mangekyou Sharingan and had just killed part of the Uchiha clan, add to that lots of Root ninja and you will see it´s not that easy.

This chapter is short but i´m going to be travelling for a week so I wanted to post it before leaving.

**Please review. **

**I have lots of hits and visitors but only a few reviews, remember that those are a boost of confidence for a rookie writer like me. If you have suggestions or something feel free to PM me or writing them on the reviews. **


	4. Progress and new destination

**Disclaimer. I do not own Naruto**.

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Chapter 4: Progress and new destination

The bandit camp was full of activity, with the Bloodline Purgue going on in Kiri the villages on the borders of Water Country weren´t as protected as before,so the different lowlifes had a golden opportunity to get control of the towns. The group was lead by two former chuunin from Kiri who had reunited a group of over seventy bandits and started to pred terror through the villages, they had even started to get slaves, young women that would sell rather well, so they had raided the houses waiting for the contact of the client.

"Man we are going to be rich!" exclaimed a bandit.

"Yes, no more threatening people on the roads, with the money Gato will pay us we will live like kings, and maybe we can keep some of the women!"

The other bandit cheered and they continued drinking, none of them aware of the shadow that was observing then from a tree.

Uchiha Keitaro didn´t show any emotion on his face, but inside he was feeling cold fury, if it wasn´t for his shinobi training he would have already jumped from his hiding spot and slaughtered them.

'But things aren´t done that way' he thought to himself.

He had been taught to think before rushing to battle, he had observed the camp for a while and had determined their strenght and numbers, even if they ganged upon him he had no doubt that he would win. It seemed that the two chuunin were inside the big tent, that stood on top of a hill, the bandits were on smaller tents and tenof them guarded the borders of the camps, having made some fires. The women were sackled to different posts, there were thirteen and even if terrified looked healthy.

"Shadow Clone" he murmured and four solid clones formed around him and spreadaround the limits of the forest. With stealth the five of them took positions in the shadows, thirty seconds later ten shuriken flew from their hands and the bandits dropped dead, three of the clones started eliminating the sleeping bandits that were inside the tents while the last one got to the women, who were surprised by his actions and appearance.

Even though he was eight years old he could easily be thought two or three years older, he was tall and bad a strong yet thin body, his attire consisted on a sleveless and high collared shirt which covered a necklace with the Uchiha fan, long pants with a chokuto attached to the left side, the classic black shinobi sandals and a glove covered in seals on his right hand that went up to his elbow, everything was black in colour. His face didn´t have the usual baby-fat and was sharp, his hair short, black and spiky. His facial features had been changed thanks to a seal he designed soon after arriving to the Uchiha base seeing as he couldn´t depend on the seal he had used in Konoha, he couldn´t risk that for some reason it failed, he designed one that would change his facial structure, the process was painful but now there was no way that someone would recognice him.

The clone quickly freed the women, but it seemed that the two ninja had noticed something as he could sense activity within the tent, and certainly it soon opened. To say they were surprised was obvious, all of their men had been eliminated, the women were escaping and it was done by a brat, who now stood facing them along with his clones.

"Damn fool what have you done!"

"Well I wanted to do some light exercise tonight, but it seems that this trash couldn´t provide it, maybe you could?" asked Keitaro, knowing that if you enrage an enemy they tend to make mistakes.

The two ninja were outraged, and as he predicted rushed to the fight, throwing some kunai along the way that we deflected swiftly with his chokuto, which he had quickly unseathed, the blade had some seals imprinted that made it thougher and easier for him to channel his affinities.

The four clones engaged one of them while the original waited for his opponent with his sword at the ready, the ninja brought a kunai down but Keitaro dodged easily, the fight continued with the chuunin unable to touch him, all of his attacks were deflected or dodged, so the older ninja couldn´t use his greater strenght against him,but suddenly he saw an opening and slashed with his weapon, expecting the younger ninja to have to block and then overpower him, but when the weapons were about to clash he didn´t see the glow of the sword, and to his surprise his kunai was destroyed and a long cut on his chest made him look down.

Keitaro followed with a sharp kick to his stomach, which made the enemy double, and smashed his knee against his face, when his head shot up a clean swipe from the chokuto separated his head from the rest of his body. Turning his head to the other battle he saw that even if two clones had been eliminated the sacrifices were worth it and the rest had managed to put him down with a combination of kunai and shuriken.

'I wonder how this two made it to chuunin' thought Keitaro as he cleaned his sword.

For two years he had trained, he only rested once a week, that day was dedicated to go to nearby villages, in order to stay in contact with the world and obtain information, something easy with his sharingan, now fully matured. He knew that at some point he would need a spy network, and he had started working on an efficient system to exchange information.

One of those days he found some Konoha ninja in a bar, and after a few drinks and the manipulative abilities of his doujutsu, covered by the round sunglasses he always wore when in the villages, he now knew what Konoha thought about his disappearance. It seemed that the villagers when in a good mood now that the 'demon' was out of Konoha, but some ninja understood the importance of the fact that he isn´t in the village anymore. Now Konoha hasn´t any of the Bijuu and the fact that their jinchuuriki had escaped from them and could be captured by another of the ninja nations was unsettling. It seemed that even Jiraiya had been called to the village, Itachi had told him about every ninja of importance and the Sannin was one of them, student of the Sandaime, teacher of the Yondaime and summoner of the Toad Contract. Maybe he wanted to find the son of his late student, or simply he didn´t want the Kyuubi roaming free, either way Keitaro didn´t mind, he wasn´t going to return and become a ninja of Konoha. The training and progress he had experienced he was sure he wouldn´t have achieved in the village.

'The graduation exam is making three clones for God´s sake!'

But on his own he had a safe place to train and learn, access to a great quantity of jutsu and other interesting subjects and freedom to plan his next move.

His taijutsu had greatly improved, thanks to the sparring against his clones, fighting bandits and the occassional low level missing nin. His fighting style was nearly completed, and from his fighting experience he could extract the conclusion that it was effective, now he only had to continue his grueling physical training and fight stronger enemies in order to reach new heights.

Ninjutsu was easy to learn for Keitaro, he even had a knack for developing what he supposed were original ice jutsu, as he only had found brief reference about an ice wielding clan in Mizu no Kuni in the library of the base. His elemental training had Fire added, as it seemed that thanks to his eyes he had developed the affinity, so with the aid of his shadow clones he had mastered the excersises of Wind, Water, Lightning and Fire manipulation, he had completed his own ways of training Ice manipulation too but he couln´t be sure if the members of the clan had harder methods to master.

The mastery over the elements made leaning new Jutsu easier, he used the Shadow Clones in order to accelerate the process, but he always made sure to have trained with every jutsu himself in order to completely master it. The only non-elemental jutsu he had learnt was the Rasengan, he had to admit that it was a great creation and the concept behind the Jutsu has fascinating, so he learnt it all by himself, managing to create a the perfect spinning ball of chakra in just two days, after that he had his clones working on trying to add the elements and make it bigger in size.

Keitaro chose wind as the element to add to the Rasengan , seeing that it was the most offensive of them, but it seemed that it was dangerous to use as his clones clones couln´t handle the damage the Jutsu did to the arm, and when he tried himself he got a stinging sensation over his arm because of what he supposed were residual wind blades of the technique. Not wanting to cripple himself he worked on a way to absorb the wind chakra of the backlash of the Jutsu, so he developed a glove that thanks to some modified chakra absorption seals now only absorbed wind chakra that would harm his arm, it was the product of hundreds of hours of study but he felt it was worth it.

He had heard about the Chidori, Hatake Kakashi´s price technique, so Keitaro decided to try and recreate it, in the end he managed to do it and was thinking of making different variations. Even if it was inferior to the Rasengan in power, made lots of noise and he still had to use hand signs to use it it would be a great Jutsu against Earth users, and nobody would expect him to know it so it would be a nasty surprise.

About his study of Genjutsu he could honestly say that he was one of the best, as there aren´t many ninja nowadays that use Genjutsu in battle, and with the sharingan he could trap his victims in a genjutsu just with a brief glance at his eyes and even return the genjutsu used against him. He worked long periods of time with his sharingan activated, as Itachi had told him that if you achieved true mastery over the sharingan it would consume near to no chakra, he still wasn´t at that level as he had only had his eyes for two years but that practice along with his gigantic chakra reserves made it so he wouldn´t have to worry too much about it.

Kenjutsu went along nicely, having found a sword of great quality in the armory, so he practiced the style Itachi had left him, he had read a lot about the legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist so when he felt he was prepared he intended to fight against some of them.

'What to do, what to do...' thought Keitaro as he rumaged through the belongings of the dead ninja, salvaging some weapons.

"You can have whatever those thugs had stolen" he said to the women, who hadn´t moved yet.

"Wait! Who are you?" asked a young woman.

"Keitaro" he answered with a smirk, and he promptly disappeared in the forest.

X X X X

'I think it is time that I get some real challenge'

With that thought he walked the road that would take him to the Land of Water, fighting bandits and weak ninja was good for starters but now they weren´t good enough, if he wanted to truly progress he needed to face enemies of his level or above, a trial to see how strong he really was. It would give him war expreience too, something he had the feeling he would need.

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**A/N:Well thanks for the reviews and sorry that it took so long to update the chapter, now to answer some questions, Keitaro won´t have Storm Release or Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, but maybe some special ability for the sharingan, the reason is that I don´t want to overpower him, he would be God-like if he had all that.**


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